Frugal Friday

On Monday I was called in to do my duty-jury duty that is. Although I was there for half the day and got up at six am (six!!! mind you) I was not called to serve in a three day forgery trial. After getting up so early (for me anyway) though, the rest of my day was fairly well shot.

Fortunately this week was not a "social butterfly-ish" week and so I was able to chill for the rest of the day as well as Tuesday-doing sewing and knitting and working on other projects. A quick foray out to knitting group on Wednesday and the fun Halloween tea yesterday has been the extent of my activity. Today I am again nesting and doing home stuff while waiting for a sprinkler blow out guy, and tomorrow I am home until a church dinner in the evening. Next week things get a tad busier...

Meanwhile I did manage both plan and do a few frugal and money saving things  this week,  along with some unfrugalness, unfortunately.

1. We've continued with the cutting down on the amount of cooking so that no leftovers are wasted and are eating mainly from the freezer-although today I am grabbing some deli chicken and top round on sale to make Swiss steak in the slow cooker (hello fall!)

2. Every year my church has a bazaar that mainly raises money for "outreach" projects for the homeless and such. Last year I made a couple of large projects to sell. This year I am looking to the stuff I already have-mainly single skeins or two skeins of yarn and fabric scraps-and making smaller projects like money purses, fingerless gloves and knitted neck warmers. Using up the supplies, saving money, and doing good. All in one project (or two or three). 

3. I made the investment this week in a small sweater shaver and have actively been spending some time cleaning up sweaters that I thought were past their prime, including one of my favorites which I had thought would never leave the house. Now if I can just remember to always wash inside out and take out and dry or dry separately from the other clothes.

4. In my quest to be more financially (and personal energy) efficient, I'm in the process of committing to shopping, deign errands and getting as many monthly needs as I can one day a month (with a minor shop and fill in mid month). And I am working on that list. Groceries obviously, but also the headphones below (I think my ear buds gave me the ear infection from hell), as well as payment for a class I want to take later on in the month. I do pan on sharing what I buy next week when I order said items. 

Obviously this won't be one hundred percent and there will be exceptions. Produce and milk, senior day at the thrift store, one of the clearance deals of special gift cards that arrive in my email, the fall craft show on the second (which will come out of cash taken out on the 30th). But other than that, today I am sitting down and trying to anticipate everything I will need this month, and preparing as such. 

5. For the benefit of myself and everyone else, I am pulling back in terms of the price of events for my retired meetup. We've done some fun things but many of them lately have been a bit pricey (40 dollar fairly gardens, forty dollar teas, some more expensive restaurants and happy hours). While we do have a lunch in November at the Melting Pot which will be our expensive holiday event, I am dialing back lunches to places that offer many nine and ten dollar specials, adding a game day at a coffee house or brewery and other less expensive things. Instead of big expensive craft events, we are also going to try meeting at a brew pub (that also has wine and food) and doing some kind of craft each month. People who want to do so can, and everyone else can eat and drink as always (brewpubs generally have large, kind of roughed up tables which will let us spread out) 

Cheese fondue and chocolate fondue-once a year!

Oh, and as part of the cutting back, both personally and for the group, I'm going to experiment with mainly cash for my entertainment and dining expenses, pulling it out on the first. Which won't work for online movie reservations and the like, but will for everything else.

6. I made my Christmas list and budget in all it's glory-from the baking supplies to the gifts to possible entertainment expenses like the Nutcracker. 

Now for the Unfrugal:

1.  We learn as we go, as they say. I scheduled the above tea, told everyone the cost and let them know the deadline to cancel, as after that any teas had to be paid for (this was the special holiday tea, they made the exact amount for us, and they made special dietary adjustments). On the day of the tea as I was heading out, four, count them four people canceled with just a "something came up" and one person did not show up or contact me.  Because I am not "that person", this is a small business and we love her and have done teas there before, I prepared to purchase the extra five meals myself and contact the no shows later. Two of the gals at the tea bought an extra one for a family member, one of the gals was ill and asked me if I could bring hers to her and she would pay me, and one had a home improvement disaster and payed me via Paypal. It could have been worse.

But I learned my lesson. Advance payment by the reservation cut off date, and three no shows or a non payment and you are, as they say "out".

And now, I am off to corral the dogs while the friendly sprinkler guy does what he does so well. This weekend will be relaxing, hoping the Washington Nats continue their run, and keeping the home fires going while we have another small weekend snow storm after sunny and 69 degree weather